1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mute devices for musical instruments, and particularly to a mute device for a drum.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
Musicians who must practice on their instruments at home, where the neighbors may not always care to listen, have to make certain compromises. For drummers, so-called drum practice pads are available. These pads are placed directly on the drum head or skin, and the drummer strikes the pad with his/her drum sticks instead of striking the drum skin directly.
It has been found that besides greatly reducing the amplitude or level of the natural drum sound,, the known pads distort the tonal quality of the drum and yield a relatively dull, "thud-like" sound when struck. Accordingly, there is a genuine need for a drum mute device that does not distort natural drum overtones and which decreases only the amplitude of such tones during at-home practice sessions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,924 (Jul. 8, 1969) discloses a drum mute including a round drum pad surrounded by a rim, and a number of support feet radially inward of the rim. If used on a tom-tom drum, the drum mute of the '924 patent has been found to deaden the drum sound and to suppress natural drum overtones significantly.
A number of other drum mute devices in the form of pads that lay directly on top of an existing drum head are disclosed, for example., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,323 (May 20, 1986); U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,047 (Feb. 20, 1996); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,235 (Jul. 25, 1978). See also French Patent 604,233 (Apr. 30, 1926).
Thus, there remains a need for a light weight, relatively inexpensive drum mute device which when used with tom-tom and other drums including snares, substantially preserves the tonal qualities and characteristics of the unattenuated drum sound, i.e., a mute device that acts only to soften the intensity of a drum sound without distorting the drum's natural overtones. There is also a need for a drum mute device that allows the user to adjust the intensity of the muted drum sound within a certain range.